From Chief to Ball

Page 509

……

One day at the end of April, the weather was already a little hot. Henry Zhang suddenly came to Chen Jian, saying that he was going to the capital, and dragged Chen Jian to drink.

The two found a restaurant in the city, asked for a private room, ordered a few random dishes, and ordered a jug of wine.

"Why in such a hurry?"

"I will take the test in autumn, and I don't want to go to a school that is too difficult to get into. I'm sure I can go to a lower school. Besides, I'm going to be an official in the future. It's always better to be younger. When the boat goes north, I will follow."

Henry Zhang took a sip of wine and sighed: "I'm leaving, I'm afraid I won't be able to see each other for a long time. If there is a holiday, I can come back and have a look. It will be difficult for us to see each other after studying."

"How to say?"

"Rules. It's always been like this. It's always been like this. There's still some chaos in the north. I might go there and start from the youngest official. What about you? You're going to the military academy too?"

Chen Jian nodded indiscriminately, without expressing his thoughts.

"You went there, and you are not familiar with the place, so you don't know if you can do it well."

"It's hard to do anywhere. But my dad started as an official from a young age. He understands some things very well. I have also learned a lot since elementary school. It is easier than those whose families are farming. Before leaving, some I have to talk to you, it’s time to read books and learn something, I’m going to grow up soon, I have to think about the future.”

These heartfelt words made Chen Jian a little sentimental, and forced a smile: "Why do you seem to have suddenly changed?"

"After the year, my dad taught me every day for three months. Some things are half-understood. I don't understand. Our families are too shallow and can't be compared with those big families. If your dad Good luck, if the people of Qi do not accept the conditions of surrender and really fight, maybe you can make meritorious service and become a general, then your life will be easier. I can’t do it. My father is just a small tax official. , not the whole county, it's over."

The two talked a lot and drank a lot of wine. Chen Jian couldn't remember how he got home.

Chapter 21 Childish Street

The new summer in the capital city in June is hot.

Henry Zhang got off the boat, carrying a simple wooden box containing two paper money orders, which can be easily exchanged for silver coins from the state-owned bank in the capital.

One is from the love of parents, and the other is from the love of friends.

Henry Zhang didn't know where his friend Chen Jian got two hundred silver coins for himself as a gift, but he couldn't refuse, so he readily accepted it.Chen Jian told him that it is not easy to live in the capital, and it is always better to have more money.

In addition to these two paper money orders, there is also a small wooden box in the wooden box, which contains a bottle filled with water and sealed with wax, and a few pieces of paper. This is a piece of paper that Chen Jian asked him to bring to the academy sir.

The name of this gentleman, Henry Zhang, is slightly known, and his name has appeared many times in some pamphlets, and he is also the person who left his name on the Shrine of the Wise.

In Henry Zhang’s view, such a character is too far away from himself, and since his friend is a friend, he is always not much different from himself, so he is naturally far away from his friend.

But since it is entrusted to help, it has to be done.

This year, my friend has become extremely weird, but it seems that these weirdnesses are good, neither stupid nor crazy, nothing more than weird behavior, not to the point of worrying.

Compared to this, on the contrary, at this moment, one should first think about how to get to the capital.

There are many people on the pier, and there are many cars, all of which are waiting for guests to rent and ride.

There is still about eighty miles away from the real capital. It is impossible to build the capital too close to the sea. After all, the state of Qi is still there, and the navy of the state of Qi is still there.

At this time, the state of Qi is still stable, and the two sides are negotiating for annexation, and there is no fight for the time being, so the place has become much more prosperous, but there are still many soldiers and warships.

From here to the capital, a bunch of small star forts, four large bastions, and three forts were built as guards.

Once necessary, people from the entire capital can be mobilized to pile up the parapet of the Luzhai on the coast to prevent possible landings.

A fine gravel road winds its way from here to the capital, passing through several forts and a long distance.

Of course, there are also waterways connected, and sea ships can also enter, but relying on sails as power, it is easy to become the target of the forts along the river in the inland river.

The students in the mathematics class observed the wind force, calculated the angle, and built the fort on some dead corners. Even if the ship came in, it would be burned clean by the arsonist in the narrow place, which was much easier than in the wide sea.Unless there is a kind of boat that does not need sails and wooden oars as power to go around the dead end of the fort, but this is obviously impossible.

Henry Zhang sat on the boat for a long time, and finally got tired of the waterway, so he hired a carriage with some change and walked on the smooth gravel road.

The driver kept chatting with him, but Henry Zhang was not interested, and just responded a few times perfunctorily.The driver only thought that he was tired, so he didn't say anything more knowingly.

Sitting in the car, alone, in addition to loneliness, there is also a faint sense of loss.

Henry Zhang felt that he was still a figure in Fujian City, at least someone knew who his father was, and he had a good reputation as a scholar.

But now in the capital, none of this exists. I am no longer the son of a certain tax official, but a young man named Henry Zhang, and I don’t even have a friend to play with.

This kind of loneliness, loss and cautiousness reached its peak after arriving in Xinxia the next day.

Compared with Mincheng, Xinxia is much larger and more prosperous. There are no beggars on the street because they are all caught in poorhouses.

Henry Zhang knew this kind of prosperity in Mincheng, and if it was just these shocks, it would stop here.

But when the carriage entered the city, but turned around two squares, Henry Zhang understood why the capital is the capital.

A lot of people gathered in the first square, and two people gave speeches and debates on the high platform, the content of which was whether to abolish the five-year enlightenment education for all.One side believes that abolishing it can save a lot of money, and the country can reduce taxes, which is beneficial to everyone, and there is no need for so many people who can read, and all schools can charge money to enroll, so that those who have no money will There is no need to occupy the money of those taxpayers; the other party strongly opposes it, thinking that this is a rule that has existed since ancient times.

The former scolded the latter for being conservative and rigid, a force hindering the progress of the times; the latter scolded the former for being inhuman and only interested in money.

There was a similar debate in the second square. The content was relatively simple, that is, if a criminal with leprosy was caught, he would be directly killed and burned regardless of the charges. It will be better and more like a human being, but the audience will lose interest when they hear that they may have to pay an extra copper tax.

There were soldiers maintaining order nearby. Henry Zhang asked and knew that the people who spoke above were from certain parties, and they were all fighting for their own votes for the National People’s Congress three years later.This kind of nonsense atmosphere is much weaker in Mincheng. Anyone who wants to be fair to the vast majority of people will be reprimanded as a conservative, because this was the case in the old era 500 years ago, so the reputation of conservative is naturally It falls on those who want more justice, but strangely most of these conservatives are young people or people with little money in their families.

After all, this ethnic group has only a few hundred years of civilization history, and they are naive and tight, and many paths are completely opposite to the normal path, which is weird and childish, but it is taken for granted here.

Just walking through the square with two corners, Henry Zhang’s heart was already warmed up. In the future, what his father told him not to get involved in these parties was completely lost, and he felt that this was the place for young people to display their ambitions.

Now that I have no friends from my classmates, maybe I can find a comrade-in-arms.

He couldn't figure out what he wanted, but he felt that he should do something. As for what to do, maybe someone would let him know what he should do, otherwise life would be too dull.

With a warm heart and a shyness from a small place, I found a random inn to stay.

Opening the wooden box, imagining the things my friends entrusted me to do, and just wanting to see the best school in the whole country, which is said to be extremely exquisite, I left the inn.

……

In a certain room in the academy, several people were at their desks arranging a large pile of papers, all of which were all kinds of weird articles written by young people who wanted to become famous overnight.

From time to time, someone frowned, laughed, or shook their heads.

This is the subject of chemical natural history, which is not bad, at least some new minerals can be discovered.

As for the arithmetic department next door, some people often say that they use rulers and compass to divide any angle into three equal parts. Various algorithms emerge in endlessly, which also causes a huge workload for those who choose: no one can prove that it is not possible, then Everything that can be said is probably true.

The Department of Chemical Natural Sciences has received a lot of things over the years. Now those Houbo countries in the north have gradually stabilized. Many young nobles who should have inherited their blood are no longer sacred. They have a lot of money. There is nothing to do. A few people wanted to be famous, so they devoted themselves to these disciplines.

Copper and iron smelting is boring, arithmetic and geometry are complicated, and carpenters and blacksmiths are too troublesome. On the contrary, hydrographic geography, astrology ores, vegetation, fish and insects require more money and more time, and are easier to start than those.

Therefore, these people have to receive a lot of ore samples every day, and sometimes some of them use lead and mercury to refine gold, quenching with urine can make it tougher, etc. These are either weird or true or nonsense articles , Watching these people drowsy every day.